| NHL 2002-2003: The All Star Break Review | |||||||||||||
| How the teams stack up for the stretch run of NHL 2002-2003. Part One: The Eastern Conference. |
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The NHL 2002-03 season has taught us many things: Defense still wins, obstruction means different things to different people, coach-versus-mascot is still a great draw, and about the only thing that can stop the Ottawa Senators is a shortage of frequent flier points. The annual NHL All Star break commences on Friday, giving teams three quiet days to contemplate how they got where they are and what they're going to do about it. It's the perfect time to consider how each club has shaped its season, for better or worse. We begin with the Eastern Conference. Western Conference teams are reviewed on the next page. Keep in mind that playoff spots are reserved for the top eight in each Conference. Right now, almost every team in the East still has a shot at making the post-season. Atlanta Thrashers After four years in Colorado, why would Bob Hartley want to coach the NHL's worst team? Probably because he appreciates the rare opportunity to see two players who are so good at so young an age. Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk are on a teenage tear through the league, with a little help from their team mates, so the Thrashers' attack is shaping up. Hartley has to cut back the goals against, something good coaches can do. They need to sort out the goaltending and upgrade the blueline, but with a little luck this team will show considerable improvement over the next year. Boston Bruins After an impressive early season sprint the Bruins stumbled badly, winning just five of 21 games. Goaltending was the most obvious trouble spot, so the Bruins pried Jeff Hackett from Montreal. They go into the break with a new number-one goalie, plenty of scoring and Joe Thornton in MVP form. Defensively they're pretty good too, so let's see what Hackett can do. He began his Bruins' career with a 1-0 shutout of Philadelphia. Buffalo Sabres How old do you have to be to recall a Buffalo team that could score? Here's a hint: The last Sabre to finish in the top ten in NHL scoring was Pierre Turgeon in 1990. Once again this year the Sabres are floundering on the attack. It's no coincidence that their recent unbeaten streak was led by goaltenders Ryan Miller and Martin Biron, who allowed six goals in seven games. Buffalo's pathetic offensive numbers, year after year, are a testament to poor drafting and incompetent management. Carolina Hurricanes Fun facts about the Hurricanes' desperate season: They have lost 17 of their last 24 games. They have just 16 points since the beginning of December. They have the fewest first-period goals in the NHL. They rank in the bottom half of the league in every significant statistical category. Last spring's playoff heroes - Svoboda, Battaglia, both goalies - are this winter's stiffs. Their leading scorer, Rod Brind'amour, is probably out for the season with a hand injury. Florida Panthers They get smoked 12-2 by the Capitals and 6-2 by Jersey. Then they come home and ring up consecutive 3-0 shutouts against Boston and Pittsburgh. Such are the dizzy heights and murky depths of restless youth. The Panthers are the youngest team in the league and should be awfully good in three or five years. As it is, they are still in this season's playoff hunt, a tribute to Mike Keenan's coaching work. And for a 23-year-old goaltender on a team that gives up the most shots in the league, Roberto Luongo is having as remarkable season. Montreal Canadiens The players must have hated Michel Therrien, because they look like a new team since he was fired. Does this represent a turnaround or just the brief surge that accompanies most coaching changes? Although some argue the team should have done better in the Jeff Hackett trade, Niklas Sundstrom is a decent addition to a quick and entertaining group of forwards. The problem, as always, is in their own zone, where the Habs disintegrate under any kind of pressure. Jose Theodore is coming around after a slow start, but he has to be superman again to give this team a chance. New Jersey Devils The scoring comes in fits and starts and the power play stinks, but this team is always ready to strangle opponents with another tight-checking, low-scoring Devils classic. With all the talk about Belfour, Lalime and Turco, nobody seems to notice that Martin Brodeur is hockey's best goalie. He anchors an airtight defense that has allowed the fewest goals in the NHL. Some players (Read: Scott Gomez) are stuck in neutral, but this looks very much like the impenetrable Devils teams of the past. New York Islanders They were awful before the snow came, six games under .500 by the end of November. A great December got them back in the race and now they're playing well enough - just barely - to stay with the playoff pack. Goaltending is a question mark and Alexei Yashin is overpaid and under-worked, so the Islanders have to do it by committee. In a recent 19-game stretch they scored 60 goals, a pace that would place them near the top in league scoring if they could keep it up. New York Rangers Lindros, Holik, Leetch… Blame who you like for this $70 million folly. Earlier this month the Rangers put together three straight wins for the first time this season, lost a game, then won a couple more. It looked like it was finally time to start taking them seriously. Then they get kicked around by Atlanta (4-1), blown out by Washington (7-2) and hammered by Atlanta again (5-2). Somehow, you have the feeling they can only get worse. If Mark Messier is such a great leader, how come he can't crack the whip on this bunch of head cases? Ottawa Senators The NHL's highest scoring team and often the most fun to watch, the Senators can also lock down their game and grind out a 1-0 sleeper. But Ottawa fans are tired of seeing their team crushed under the hated Maple Leaf jackboot every spring. The Senators desperately need playoff success - preferably against Toronto - to shed their reputation as April chokers. Adding a bruiser or two would help, but this is already a harder bunch: Bitter playoff disappointment is an effective motivator. You can see it in captain Daniel Alfredsson, a finesse player who has adopted a meaner edge. Philadelphia Flyers The Flyers are cruising along nicely, checking opponents into submission and scoring enough goals to get by. They were cruising along nicely this time last year, too, before diving into a tailspin that culminated in an embarrassing first-round playoff loss. This year's team appears much more resilient. But the goaltending does not always inspire confidence and their power play and penalty killing troubles will surely cause problems come springtime. Pittsburgh Penguins Where do all the mystery goalies come from? Some kind of hatchery in the mountains of Quebec? The Penguins are one of several teams leaning on rookie goaltenders lately. When Johan Hedberg broke a collarbone, Sebastian Caron (who?) stepped in and allowed just nine goals in six games. He's cooled off since, but all he has to do is keep the Penguins in games until Mario returns from a groin pull. Then the Pittsburgh power play will lord over the league once again. But if they trade Alexei Kovalev, as rumored, it's hard to see the Penguins in the playoffs. Not unless they pull off one heck of a deal. Tampa Bay Lightning Looking for proof that hockey in October matters? The Lightning lost once in ten games before Halloween. Since then they are just another borderline team in the teeming mire of the Eastern Conference. Without the head start they would be drowning by now. Tampa has just four wins in January, but the forwards are still racking up plenty of points, so there's hope yet. Nikolai Khabibulin can vault them over the top if he recaptures his world-class goaltending form, but he's been pulled from the net four times in his last 10 games. Toronto Maple Leafs Ed Belfour obviously enjoys a good workout: Despite giving up a ton of shots, the Leafs rank among the best defensive teams in the East. Alexander Mogilny is having a great year. Otherwise the scoring is spread out, with nine players already past the 20-point mark. But the blueline is suspect and Mats Sundin has had lengthy dry spells. The Leafs have slipped lately as Belfour missed a couple of games, and now the playoff pack is breathing down their necks. Washington Capitals Jaromir Jagr is back, sort of. The Capitals have played 14 games in 2003. Jagr needed just eight of them to ring up 21 points. But in the other six he was pointless. Not coincidentally, the Caps are also getting better, climbing from fourth to first in the Southeast Division. On paper, this is a team that could take charge come playoff time. But they still don't look like a contender. They blow late leads and give up too many goals.
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